NAB AL Tools

This extensions is a tool that helps with AL development.

Table of Contents

Features

• XLIFF Tools
  • NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf
  • NAB: Match translations from external XLF file
  • NAB: Find next untranslated text (Ctrl+Alt+U)
  • NAB: Find untranslated texts
  • NAB: Find multiple targets in XLF files
  • NAB: Find translated texts of current line
  • NAB: Find code source of current line ("F12" in xlf files)
  • NAB: Sort XLF files as g.xlf
  • NAB: Sort XLF files as g.xlf
  • NAB: Copy <source> to <target>
• Other Features
• Snippets

Requirements

Extension Settings

Known Issues

Release Notes

Contributing

Features

XLIFF Tools

The workflow for working with these XLIFF tools are

1. Write your code
2. Build your app, so that the g.xlf file gets updated
3. Execute "NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf" from the Command Palette
4. Execute "NAB: Find next untranslated text" from the Command Palette and handle the untranslated/modified translation until you've handled them all

NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf

Iterates the g.xlf file and updates all language xlf files. The default behavior is to insert the tags mentioned below. If the setting NAB.UseExternalTranslationTool == true the state attribute of <target> is modified instead.

• The xlf files gets the same ordering as g.xlf
• Translations marked as translate=no gets removed
• Modified translations gets prefixed with [NAB: REVIEW] or <target state="needs-adaptation">.
• New translations with the same source language as g.xlf gets copied to target, but prefixed with [NAB: REVIEW] or <target state="needs-review-translation">.
• New translations with other source language than g.xlf is replaced with [NAB: NOT TRANSLATED] or <target state="new">
• If the setting NAB.MatchTranslation is enabled and a not translated text is found, it tries to match the source texts to find if this text has been translated before. Read more in the NAB.MatchTranslation setting.

Please create an issue if you have an opinion of how the target states should be used or if you wish to see more functionality that improves the workflow when working with translation tools.

NAB: Match translations from external XLF file

Works similar as NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf, but you will first need to select another xlf file to use for matching (read more about matching in the NAB.MatchTranslation setting documentation).

• Only xlf files with the same target language as the selected xlf file will be modified.

NAB: Find next untranslated text (Ctrl+Alt+U)

Finds the next occurrence of the tags [NAB: NOT TRANSLATED] or [NAB: REVIEW] and selects the tag.

• If the tag [NAB: NOT TRANSLATED] is selected, replace it with the translated text
• If the tag [NAB: REVIEW] is selected, review the translation and update if needed, then you remove the tag
• If the tag [NAB: SUGGESTION] is selected, review the suggested translation (added by source matching) and update if needed, then you remove the tag

If the setting NAB.UseExternalTranslationTool is set to true it searches for any target with a state that is considered not completed. Which is any state except final, signed-off, translated. The [NAB:*]-tags are not used when this setting is activated.

NAB: Find untranslated texts

Uses the Find in Files feature to search for translation units in need of review or translation. Please read Known Issues below.

NAB: Find multiple targets in XLF files

Use this command to find all places where you've got multiple targets, caused by the matching finding multiple sources with different translations Please read Known Issues below.

NAB: Find translated texts of current line

Place the cursor on a AL code line that should be translated and execute this command to use the Find in Files feature to find all occurences of the translations. Please read Known Issues below.

NAB: Find code source of current line ("F12" in xlf files)

Place the cursor somewhere in a trans-unit node in the xlf file and execute this command to navigate to the source code for that translation.

NAB: Sort XLF files as g.xlf

Updates all language xlf files with the same sorting as the g.xlf file

NAB: Copy <source> to <target>

Copies the content of the <source> element to the <target> element. Use this when positioned on a target line in a xlf file.

Other Features

NAB: Suggest ToolTips

Inserts a ToolTip stub on page fields and actions. The stub will be commented out and needs to be reviewed, updated and un-commented manually. This function only works when you're in a file that has a Page och Page extension object No ToolTips will be added on fields on NavigatePages or API pages

NAB: Show next suggested ToolTip

Shows the next ToolTip stub in the current Page or PageExtension. Default shortcut Ctrl+Alt+P

NAB: Generate ToolTip Documentation

Generates a MarkDown (.md) file with the ToolTips for all Pages and Page Extensions. All fields and action are listed per object. Empty or missing ToolTips will be included.

Fields and Actions with captions will be included in the documentation. If there are no Caption on the Page Field, the function tries to retrieve the Caption from the Source Table. This only works for tables inside the workspace.

The following naming standard in the object descriptor of Page Extensions is required to retrieve the captions from the Table Extension if there are no explicit Caption on the page field:

Pattern: pageextension [Object ID] "[Object Name]" extends "[Base Page]" // [Base Page Object Id] ([Base Table Object Id])

Example: pageextension 50000 "My Item Card" extends "Item Card" // 30 (27)

The following PageTypes are ignored:

• API
• ConfirmationDialog
• HeadlinePart
• NavigatePage
• ReportPreview
• ReportProcessingOnly
• RoleCenter
• StandardDialog
• XmlPort

Two settings can be used to ignore specific Pages or Page Extensions:

• NAB.TooltipDocsIgnorePageExtensionIds
• NAB.TooltipDocsIgnorePageIds

NAB: Uninstall dependent apps

Uninstalls dependent apps through PowerShell. Useful if you cannot install your app due to dependencies.

Only works for local installations, not Docker, not Saas Sandbox.

NAB: Sign app file

Sign the app file (matching your current app.json). You must first have the Code Signing Certificate installed in the Current User Personal Store (Cert:\CurrentUser\My if you're importing with PowerShell).

NAB: Deploy and Run TestTool without Debugger

Useful if you're using a separate app as a test app

Requirements:

• Must be using a workspace
• The main app's workspace folder must be called "App"
• The test app's workspace folder must be called "TestApp"

When this command is executed, VSCode...

• Updates the launch.json in both App and TestApp to only contain the first configuration (the original launch.json is copied to ".vscode\launch_bak.json) to avoid the prompt
• Uninstalls all dependent apps (of your main app)
• Build and deploy Main App
• Build and deploy Test App
• Uses the first configuration in the launch.json of the TestApp to eventually launch the web client, without debugging. Tip: Configure this to run page 130401!
• Restores the original launch.json

NAB: Deploy and Run TestTool with Debugger

The same feature as above, but with debugging

Snippets

Assign text variable with CopyStr

Since CodeCop rule AA0139 complains on possible overflow, we need to assign text variables with a CopyStr statement

Test Codeunit

Inserts a stub Test Codeunit

Test Function

Inserts a stub Test Function

Test SendNotificationHandler

Inserts a generic SendNotificationHandler function

Test MessageHandler

Inserts a generic MessageHandler function

Test ConfirmHandler

Inserts a generic ConfirmHandler function

Declare Dictionary

Define variable of type Dictionary

Declare List

Define variable of type List

Declare Enum value

Declare enum value with caption.

Requirements

This extension requires the Microsoft AL Language Extension to fully work.

Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings:

• NAB.SigningCertificateName: The name of the certificate used to sing app files. The certificate needs to be installed to the Personal store. For instructions on how to install the pfx certificate in the Personal Store, go to Microsoft Docs.
• NAB.SignToolPath: The full path to signtool.exe, used for signing app files. If this is not set the extension tries to find it on the default locations, if the signtool.exe is not found it tries to download and install signtool.
• NAB.UseExternalTranslationTool: Modifies the state-attribute of the translation unit when running NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf instead of inserting a searchable string. Useful when working with external translation software.
• NAB.ReplaceSelfClosingXlfTags: Replaces self closing tags like <tag/> with a separate closing tag </tag>. Activated by default.
• NAB.SearchOnlyXlfFiles: If enabled, the NAB:Find Untranslated texts function only searches *.xlf files. Be aware of that the *.xlf file filter remains in "Find in Files" after this command has been run. This should be enabled in large projects (as Base Application) for performance reasons.
• NAB.MatchTranslation: If enabled, the NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf function tries to match sources in the translated xlf file to reuse translations. A found match of "source" is then prefixed with [NAB: SUGGESTION] for manual review. If several matches are found, all matches are added as targets and you need delete the ones you do not want. Use NAB: Find next untranslated text (Ctrl+Alt+U) or NAB: Find multiple targets in XLF files to review all matches. This feature only works if "UseExternalTranslationTool" is disabled. Activated by default.

Known Issues

The Find in Files API was a bit buggy before VSCode v1.34... I had to create a PR for VSCode for this to work properly and in VSCode v1.34 this was finally released, yey! So be sure to update VSCode to v1.34 or later.

Release Notes

0.3.x

Beta release.

Please read our contribution guidelines and submit issues on GitHub

Contributing

You are always welcome to open an issue for enhancements and bugs. If you'd like to give it a swing yourself you can follow this little guide to get up and running: How To Contribute.